


Best Kept Secrets

by HalcyonFrost



Series: Between the Two of Us [2]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Acceptance, Ace spectrum character, Crossdressing, Domestic Fluff, Established Relationship, Fluff, Implied Voyeurism, Kink Discovery, Lingerie, M/M, Moving In Together, Past Pepper Potts/Tony Stark, Tony Stark Does What He Wants, Tony Stark Feels
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-09
Updated: 2016-10-09
Packaged: 2018-08-20 09:15:21
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,185
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8244076
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HalcyonFrost/pseuds/HalcyonFrost
Summary: Curiosity always got Tony in trouble. Asking Pepper why women wore lingerie any time of day was just the latest thing that gained him an unexpected and mildly embarrassing result. They stopped being a kink and started being an everyday thrill that no one but him and Pepper knew. Only when he and Pepper stopped dating, and Tony eventually moved on to a sexy demigod, his secret felt too fragile to confess.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Found this in a stack of handwritten scenes when I was cleaning my room, and I had only gotten about four hundred words into the beginning. I kind of liked it, so I typed it up, and it... expanded. XD 
> 
> Fluff without smut for now, but believe me, there is smut coming for this 'verse. ;3

"I'm an egotistical bastard, but even I know women can't wear all that solely for showing off to a guy."

Pepper gave him a disparaging look.

He crossed his arms and shifted where he leaned against the closet doorway. "Fine, showing off to another girl if that's your inclination, but my point stands - you don't wear all that lace and wire and spandex under your clothes all day long just on the off chance that someone you fancy is going to come along and strip you to your essentials."

Sighing, Pepper pulled her pencil skirt up over the indecently and fantastically cheeky sapphire blue panties just visible under the tails of her blouse. "You're right - most women don't wear frills under their clothes just for a significant other. Happy now?"

"So why then? Why the lack of coverage and the ruffles and the colors of the rainbow for something only you know is there 90% of the time?" Tony would admit that despite his variety of knowledge regarding women, some things still puzzled him, and honestly, "everyday lingerie" was exactly one of them. Normally, he would happily let it remain as just a thing women did, but when he found out his asexual girlfriend had an entire collection? _Confusion._ And Tony was not the type to allow an answerable question to stay unanswered.

Pepper clasped a bracelet around her wrist and browsed through her shoe shelves while still indulging Tony's curiosity. "Because it's a thrill. Something secret. Laces and colors and arming yourself with femininity. Some days you wear things so soft and smooth that it feels like you're wearing nothing at all. Some days you wear that something that reminds you every time you move that you've got a leopard print thong or your bra cups are completely see through. It's yours to hide or flaunt as you like. It's personal. Sometimes it gives you the confidence you need to push through the day."

"Okay..."

She flashed a look over her shoulder that only ever meant the most debauched, evil, and wonderful things from her. "You should try it. Change your life."

"Why would I need to wear lace?"

"Why should you _not_ wear lace? You're not that hyper-masculine, Tony, and you don't care about being seen otherwise. So why not try something naughty?"

His silence was damning, and Pepper got a look in her eye of planning something for him. "Tonight, we're going through my closet, and I'm teaching you a few things about women."

**\xXx\**

"Informative" was an understatement as to what Pepper taught him that night. Especially that women had _variety_ to choose from in everything. Obscene amounts of variety. Tony fancied himself to have style, but apparently men's fashions were sorely lacking in availability. Women had so much that it was almost overwhelming to behold. No wonder they were stereotyped into having too much clothing or too many accessories; it was _expected_ to have all of this. And when Pepper showed him through her lingerie selection, it was almost as intriguing to imagine on her as it was to feel the tiny garments wrapped around his fingertips and - with Pepper's enthusiastic help - think about wearing similar things himself.

A week later, she brought home a small box with the name of a familiar company, and she handed it off to him with little ceremony and a pleased smirk. When Tony pulled out what was inside and made assumptions as to what they were for, she quickly corrected that _she_ was not going to wear them, but _he_ was. And she was going to watch. They established pretty quickly at the start of their relationship that sex wasn't Pepper's style, but she did have a thing for voyeurism and a taste for dominance on occasion, but they’d never really tried anything like this before. Tony wasn't going to turn down an opportunity for voyeurism though, so he agreed to try it for the experience, and the night turned out to be... unexpectedly awesome.

The next few weeks, Pepper gifted him four more pairs in different colors and styles and then finally took him to the shop to pick out ones for himself, and they went home with another eight. Soft silk, delicate lace, bright prints, simple and solid colored panties that fit to his body like a second skin, Tony could hardly pick one type he liked more than another, and when he did, it was only for a few days until he decided on another. He sought out and found others designed to accommodate his shape in more subtle cuts common for men but still with narrow insets of decoration or colors definitely not common in the men's section of a department store.

He didn’t wear them every day, and he didn't wear them solely for Pepper to see. Sometimes he wore them when he worked, and other days, he wore them into the office and changed when he got back. Some days, no one but Tony knew or saw what was underneath.

So it did turn out that Tony caught on about lingerie not being for sex appeal, but he missed the big picture. Pepper was the one who was actually right in the end, and Tony didn't realize it until he'd tried it and got the idea: someone else didn't have to see them for it to thrill Tony.

Their breakup was hardly what Tony would call a break up. After Killian and the Extremis scare, Pepper needed space, and Tony actually agreed with her, so Pepper got herself a separate apartment close to the office and Tony made sure the place was worthy of Pepper's presence. He tracked down the best team to help her with her new "condition" enough to keep her from exploding, and Pepper learned how to work with what was left. Extremis was in her DNA now and had written itself into her genes, so she wasn't completely free of it, but it was under control. Somehow along the way, any of the romantic parts of their relationship fell by the way side, and they went back to their mildly antagonistic friendship. She still asked after his secret every now and again, but it was with the tone of a teasing friend checking in and not a liscentious girlfriend asking if he still wore the underwear she got him.

When he later asked her at a lunch date if they were still _dating_ -dating, she shrugged and asked him if it terribly mattered whether they still used the label or not. He found out it didn't really if they still stayed close, and that ended that without really ending much after all. He loved her still, and she said that she loved him too, so the only difference between before and after was living together and the night time shows that sometimes came with it.

So they were both single again, and his secret stayed secret between Pepper and him.

It was a couple years before Tony let someone that close again. Shockingly - or maybe it wasn’t such a shock really - it took a reformed demigod antagonist to commit Tony to something solid. Considering that Tony was Tony and he didn't usually take things slowly, their relationship ended up progressing with a gradual languor that felt somehow fitting. Loki joined the team without becoming a "team member" (Loki despised the phrase but liked the accommodations and agreed to help them fight threats), he and Tony spent weeks flirting around each other before Tony took him out on a date, and they had so much fun out in public together that it took several official dates before they realized they forgot about trying to score. After that, it still took a few before Loki invited Tony into his room for - Loki's exact words - " something not coffee and definitely more tiring."

From then on, things continued much the same as they ever had. More team battles, flirting and debates that came and went, more dates, and more spending the night together in one or the other of their bedrooms, whether or not sex was involved. Tony never told or showed Loki the drawer of special underthings. Though a couple of the tamer pairs had made an appearance around his lover, and Loki was quite fond of the black, skin tight shorts with their subtle lace detail, Tony had no illusions that Loki would favor Tony's tastes of the more... risque ones. But he was fine with keeping it that way. No one had to know for him to enjoy it himself. And he could stay with Loki and live with the small amounts of his secret that he could show. It didn't really change much in the way he felt for the god, and at some point, Tony might even say something along those lines.

Though when it actually came to first love confessions, Tony's was a bit more public and less direct. When one of the Avengers asked how dating was going, Tony absently answered "well, I love him, so I guess it's going to keep going" before he kept working on his tablet. He didn't even notice the room go quiet. That night, when Loki returned them softly into the curve of Tony's sweaty shoulder though, he noticed. Better yet, he filled it with Loki's name and three more words again.

By the time Tony thought to turn around and see how far they'd come, he almost couldn't believe it. Loki had been living in the tower with the rest of the team for some time, and he could always teleport up and down, but somehow, it just didn't seem right to continue like that. Smooth as he could, Tony eased into the big question over breakfast one morning by throwing it into the silence as Loki served eggs out of the pan.

"So do you want to move in with me?"

Loki's brow knitted together as he gave Tony a look that asked if his brain was working properly. "I am living with you. We're three floors apart."

"I know, and you can keep those rooms as your personal escape space, but I meant like, you staying in my space with your things. Closet sharing. An equal number of your own drawers in my dressers. Close space sharing. My private space becoming _our_ private space."

"Oh." Loki's mouth curved into that private smile of suppressed delight that Tony always wanted to kiss wider. "Yes, I think I would like that."

"How's today sound?"

Finally Loki laughed a full-bodied sound that made his shoulders shake and reminded Tony why he was asking in the first place. "You don't move with any sort of hesitance, do you? Alright, today then."

And so Loki started gathering things into boxes at Tony's insistence ("You can't just _magic_ things into place; it's about the experience!") and carrying them in and out of the elevator. After ten trips back and forth, Tony agreed that maybe the boxes could be sent upstairs by magic and just unpacking them would be enough of an experience.

Even unpacking them took enough time. Tony already had the second large closet off of his bedroom that was originally for Pepper, but it had mostly been empty except for a few extra things Tony shuffled over there just to make it seem _less_ deserted. Loki had started to hang and fold and put away his things while Tony moved his own stuff back into his side and was merrily listening to Loki moving around, moving _into Tony's space_ when Loki called Tony back into the other room.

"Tony? I thought Miss Potts had retrieved all her things?" Loki called from the closet.

"Yeah, months ago. Why, did you-" Tony froze in the doorway as he saw Loki holding up a pair of mossy green panties with soft mesh sides and an intricate lace front that had a flattering cut for Tony's shape.

"Then why have a drawer full of her items?"

"Um-"

"Though..." Loki took a closer look, and his brow furrowed. "This wouldn’t fit a woman well; it's better suited to-" He stopped, and Tony could hear the connections snap into place. "Oh."

"I'll just take those." Tony darted forward and snatched the underwear from Loki’s fingers, then pushed the drawer shut forcefully. "Just, um, use the other drawers. I'll clean those out later."

"Tony?" Loki called after Tony as he hustled back to the door.

"Pretend it didn't happen, Loki."

"Tony, wait!" Loki caught Tony's arm before he could go far, and Tony instinctively clutched the hand holding the unmentionables tightly against his chest. "I'm not upset; I'm... surprised." And he wouldn't meet Tony's eye, looking back towards the closet and then to the floor even as Tony stared back about as solidly as a deer facing the oncoming mack truck. "They're all yours? In that drawer?"

"Yeah..."

Loki glanced at the edge of green fabric poking out from Tony's fist, and the god managed a slight curl up at the corner of his mouth. "You have my color."

"I had them before we were a thing." Tony defended, but Loki shook his head with a light laugh.

"I believe you. I just-" He took a cautious step forward and met Tony’s eyes. "My color would look good on you."

 _Oh._ So _this_ could be a thing. "It looks fantastic on me."

"I'd love to see it."

Tony nodded mutely, feeling a weight drop from his chest as he relaxed his hand slightly. Slow enough that Tony could choose to pull away, Loki moved to take Tony's protective fist and lower it without making him drop the panties.

"Do you want to move the rest back into your closet?"

"Yeah. Yes, that would be better."

Loki nodded patiently and stepped aside for Tony to walk past him and gather them out of the drawer into a mass in his arms and then wander back into his closet without pause. He wasn’t stopped, but he certainly felt Loki's curious eyes following him all the way out of sight.

Thankfully, Loki didn't say anything else that day. Or the next. Or even the day after. While not being pushed was nice, not talking about it at all and pretending like it didn't happen was becoming more frustrating than anything. It _wasn't_ forgotten; that much was very sure. Whenever Tony changed clothes near Loki or when Loki would slip his fingers under the waistband of Tony's bands, it was a bit obvious that Loki was looking for that difference, but Tony hadn't kept this secret from his lover for months by being sloppy. Loki wouldn't ask because he knew Tony wasn't really ready to tell, but Tony was ready to stop pretending that discovery hadn't happened. That he didn't have that drawer he touched every night before changing clothes and thinking whether or not tonight would be the night he showed Loki of his own volition. What kind he would wear from his collection. Hell, he even hunted down and bought another couple pairs in his lover's colors and different styles; yet each time, his fingers slid off the drawer handle, and he put on something else normal.

It took a week of doing that every night. Wanting to and not being able to. The looks and no mentions. They still enjoyed Loki sharing Tony's space, and Tony peeking in on Loki changing in his closet in the morning, just to see him there, and Loki would laugh and walk over and kiss Tony on the head or stroke his cheek gently with no less affection now than before he accidentally found out Tony's proclivity.

He just got _so tired_ of hiding.

"Are you coming to bed?" Loki called out from the bedroom; he had gotten into bed a few minutes earlier while Tony was going through his nightly closet debate.

"Yeah, just a minute." Tony chewed on his lip, but dug his fingers between the handle and the wood and tugged the drawer open.

A few minutes later, Tony could hear Loki's feet padding on the floor outside before he poked his head in. "Is everything okay? Are you alri-" Loki paused when he saw Tony standing there in a black singlet like he usually slept in and cheeky, forest green briefs.

"Everything's fine." Tony tried to cover, hoping that Loki would take the hint. "Isn't it?"

Loki smiled, and held a hand out for Tony to take. "Of course it is. Are you coming to bed, love?" Tony stepped forward and took Loki's hand, following his lover to bed, and wondering the whole way how Loki was going to actually take it. He seemed to _accept_ it, but did he understand all of it? That it was more than sexy underwear for sexy purposes?

The nerves only doubled as Loki climbed into bed on his knees and gently tugged Tony in after him, but then Loki simply laid down and held out his arms for Tony to lay down with him. Not liscentious, just laying in bed together. Tony's chest could finally expand enough for a breath, and he settled down as little spoon with his back to Loki's chest. Loki draped his arms over Tony's side, and once Tony had relaxed, one inquisitive hand moved to rest on Tony’s hip, just along the waistband of his underwear. Tony took Loki's hand with his own and slipped it down to lay fully on the thin strip of fabric, but again, nothing more than showing Loki he could.

Burrowing his nose behind Tony's ear, Loki hummed happily as Jarvis lowered the lights without needing to be asked.

"Thank you." Tony said into the dark. "For-" Accepting it? Seeing them for what they were? "For being you." He summarized. "The kind of you that gets a reward for it later."

Loki kissed a small spot at the back of Tony's neck. "No need. Seeing you finally relaxed is worth it. And the sight is more than enough too." A soft exhale of air shifted Tony's hair. "You were right about looking fantastic in my colors."

Ah, yes, this was the lightness Tony needed after days of worrying. "I look good in all colors."

"I know that too."

Tony pulled his bottom lip between his teeth again. "I have different kinds for different occasions, you know. "

"I'd love to see them."

Snuggling back against Loki, Tony promised: "You will."

Loki dropped the conversation for a few minutes after that, and Tony thought Loki was just going to sleep until he heard Loki's voice barely above a whisper against his ear.

"Tony?"

"Hm?"

"Thank you. For deciding to show me."

"I'm glad I did now."

When Loki moved his arms to hug Tony tightly, full of affection and gratitude, Tony felt like perhaps this odd thing of his being out in open was only going to bring them closer, and he couldn't wait to see what kind of new adventures they could have now. And how many more new pairs of panties would come from their exploring.


End file.
